Butterfly
by Lady Merlin
Summary: Draco and Hermione have a silent truce. What if her presence itself helps him in ways she can't imagine? And even though they've rarely talked, he falls in love with her? How can he tell her, with Potty and Weasel around? Thank god he can transfigure


Hey all

Hey all. Not exactly the smartest time to be writing but I need a break or I swear, I'll break something—either my teachers or myself. I've got exams coming up in approximately 6 days so… sighs. I shall swear to myself—I will NOT come online or turn on my Computer till my exams are over and my life begins again. SO much easier said than done… anyway. Here's my latest DH fic. I've got a massive list of ideas but I thought it would be easier and more indulgent if I wrote something short and let myself finish it.

Today morning I woke up feeling ridiculously happy over a DH fic I dreamt up and I was so terribly proud of it. I'm reasonably sure I'd never have written a better fic—but for the love of life and all things good, I can't remember what it was. Damn you brain! DAMN YOU!!

Anyway, this fic's just something I came up with on the bus when I was stoning instead of studying (damn—another hour wasted). Draco Hermione. It doesn't go with the 7th book and is slightly OOC; just a wee bit, I promise. It's still a 7th year war but Hermione, Harry and Ron are still in school. Enjoy!!

Hermione's POV

Hermione hadn't been getting enough sleep. She'd been in the library till the wee hours of the morning, searching every book she could lay her hands on to find anything—_anything _to do with Horocruxes.

She had been the only one. Well, not exactly the only one in the whole school, just the only one from Her, Harry and Ron, both of which were snoring away soundly in their rooms.

There had been one other person. Malfoy. He'd been studying pretty hard too. He went through the same number of books as she did. They became some strange sort of silent company—they never spoke, never looked at each other, nothing. It was just the presence of another human being when it got cold at night that was a comfort. It became something so natural it was down right habit. And when Ron and Harry burst in, loudly and violently sending the door flying, yelling at Malfoy to get away from her, both of them had looked up from their books and stared. And stared.

"Right," Harry had said, blushing. "Right. Good night 'Mione, Malfoy." And they'd vanished. That night she and Malfoy had exchanged half-crazed-with-stress-grins. But they were grins all the same.

They had a lot of the same classes. Potions, Ancient Runes, Arithmetic, Charms, History of Magic, and Care of Magical Creatures to name a few. The last example was a class which Hermione was beginning to regret. She must have mumbled this aloud at some point in time, and Malfoy'd replied, "Take it as a chance to relax while learning. I know it's pretty useless, but it's nice to get out for a while." He'd made a whole lot of sense, even to her befuddled sleep deprived brain.

One day in Care of Magical Creatures, they'd been told to go out into the woods and write a report on the first animal they saw. Hermione thought it was ridiculous, but she accepted it didn't really matter what she thought.

Stumbling over tree roots and attempting to evade sharp branches, she made her way into the forest. She'd never been so far in, on her own. It was quite nice, really. Peaceful. Suddenly, she stepped into a small grassy clearing, lit by warm, unfiltered sunlight. It was a lovely place. Suddenly, there was noise and rustling and voices from the other side of the clearing. Draco Malfoy's head and torso came through a rather thick patch of brush, wincing. He seemed to notice Hermione, and he nodded as if he didn't know what else to do.

He vanished back into the bush, and she could hear him saying, _come on. There's nothing there. Let's go outside—who know what kind of monsters live here…_

The noise reduced and vanished. She wondered why he'd avoided the confrontation. Suddenly he appeared again. Her heart skipped a beat. They were alone—what did he want?

He looked at her warily, and then as if he could believe he was doing this, crouched down and picked up a handful of soil. He was whispering to the handful of soil. Hermione had three options; (a) assume he was talking to Rita Skeeter, (b) assume she was alone with a lunatic and would be able to defend herself and (c) run screaming. She didn't really have time to think about it.

He was standing up and his pale fist had uncurled—he was still whispering to the dirt. He blew it out of his palm, and instead of dirt, a cloud of small golden butterflies flew towards her. She knew on the spot that he meant no harm. But they were so beautiful! Around the size of her fingernail and around a hundred. They all flew around her, brushing her cheeks and her hair and her lips before flying upwards and vanishing. She turned, amazed, to thank him, but he'd vanished—just like the butterflies.

Draco's POV

I don't exactly know why I did what I did. I just know that I'll never forget that look on her face. She really is very pretty—I wonder why I never saw it before. But right now, I'm just trying to imprint her happy smile in my mind. I have no clue what I'm doing. This is bloody crazy—I must be losing my mind.

Hermione's POV

Still trying to figure out what exactly had happened, she went around for the rest of the day with a happy glow on her face. Harry and Ron couldn't figure it out, and she was happy to leave it that way—they'd treated her like a boy long enough.

She needed to find a way to thank him—he wouldn't be easy to find, she decided after he didn't show for their library session for two nights.

She had the perfect idea.

The next Care of Magical Creatures lesson, which was a week later, she waited till there were very few people around. In fact, the moment Pansy left, they were alone. She picked up a flower and plucked off the petals, and clenched them in her fist and whispered a charm. Malfoy didn't notice—he was bent on not meeting her gaze.

The petals flew towards him on an invisible breeze, and gently crunched onto his cheek. He looked stunned and she pretended to not be watching. His hand brushed his cheek, and to her amusement he blushed.

That night she found a small note under her pillow. She opened it and smiled.

_When the war's over, __Granger__ 'Mione, if you still want, I'll wait for you... _

_DM_

Her heart fluttered like she'd never known it could. She shook her head. She'd expected to meet a guy in a library or something, over a favourite book. Who'd have guessed that it would be her best friends' enemy in the Forbidden Forest, over butterflies?

I know it's slightly awkward, but I'm sleepy. I hope it got the message. It played out differently in my head, but ah well…

REVIEW!!

Love,

Lady Merlin


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